Kahn faces bitter rival, Lehmann

Yet even if the two 35-year-olds are determined not to fan flames, others can't resist it. Yesterday, one German TV interviewer irritated Bayern coach Felix Magath for asking whether Kahn was being "cowardly" for not talking about the Lehmann issue.

Even Franz Beckenbauer interjected unhelpfully the other day: "The debate rumbles on and on because Jens Lehmann can't keep his big mouth shut. He keeps on trying to throw poison darts from the safety of London." Tonight, there will be no safety as Bayern fans doubtless prime themselves to target him with snowballs and insults.

Still, the feud would probably already have died a death if national team manager Jurgen Klinsmann, who will be in the stadium tonight, had made the decision the overwhelming majority of Germans believe he should have. That is, make a public demonstration that Kahn remains the undisputed No1.

Instead, Klinsmann has begun rotating the pair, offering no clue to his real preference, and when Sepp Maier, the national goalkeeping coach, offered public support for Kahn last October, he was sacked by the former Spurs man.

Now, though, Kahn's supporters believe he is making all arguments academic again. They swear here that, since the winter break, he has been playing like the titan who almost single-handedly seemed to secure Germany's passage to the 2002 World Cup Final and not the distracted figure who seemed so error-prone last autumn.

"Is Kahn better than Lehmann? Sure," reckoned Magath when asked for a verdict on Sunday. "For me there is no debate. If he plays as he has been, he's got no rival in Germany - and it doesn't matter what the name of the keeper at the other end is."

Against Dortmund on Saturday there was one wonderful moment when Khan, with ball at feet, just whisked it away from an onrushing striker at the last second like some cocky matador. "It was great to see all that old calm confidence back," said Magath.

The huge cheers for him seemed to tell also of a man who is slowly winning the battle to regain respect from his compatriots. Lehmann demonstratedhis own resolve in regaining the No1 spot at Highbury but Kahn has had to show even more character.

Kahn was slaughtered for his betrayal of his wife Simone, being booed at grounds all round the country.

One newspaper's barb that he was a "third-rate adulterer" may always stick but Germany, it seems, is at least appreciating his workaholic efforts to become a first-rate goalkeeper again.

Pondering how his world seemed to crumble after the World Cup, Kahn noted recently: "If you played the way I did there, investing so much on and off the field, but then you let in a soft goal and you lose the final, you spend a long, long time asking why it happened. I don't want to go through another 2004, I want to make headlines for the right reasons again."

No headline, he must dream, could be writ larger than "Khan wins duel".